"Penitentiary" is definitely a superior prison/boxing movie. It has a low budget, but like any good low-budget movie, it turns this into a strength, not a drawback. You don't miss what the money could have afforded. The lack of multiple locations, fancy camera angles and stunt-doubles just brings you closer to the action.
The actors are all superior, as is the direction. Fanaka made creative use of close-ups, slow motion, hand held cameras, and all this while still in film school.
The movie is considered "blaxploitation", though I think that great exploitation sub-genre was pretty much over by '79. The movie does have a predominantly African-American cast, but the usual themes of the sub-genre, such as racism and the cynical exploitation of black people by whites, is not really the focus here. The most powerful white guy in the movie, the warden, is even depicted as a good man in the end.
Of all the performances, aside from Kennedy - who carries the movie - the greatest is probably Floyd Chatman as a lifer who has plenty of wisdom but can't face life on the outside. He looks like a black Colonel Sanders, or perhaps a wise koala bear.
The movie also has a sensitive attitude toward one infamous subject - prison rape, which along with everything else, elevates it above simple "prison movie" or "exploitation flick" status.
I say check it out.
The actors are all superior, as is the direction. Fanaka made creative use of close-ups, slow motion, hand held cameras, and all this while still in film school.
The movie is considered "blaxploitation", though I think that great exploitation sub-genre was pretty much over by '79. The movie does have a predominantly African-American cast, but the usual themes of the sub-genre, such as racism and the cynical exploitation of black people by whites, is not really the focus here. The most powerful white guy in the movie, the warden, is even depicted as a good man in the end.
Of all the performances, aside from Kennedy - who carries the movie - the greatest is probably Floyd Chatman as a lifer who has plenty of wisdom but can't face life on the outside. He looks like a black Colonel Sanders, or perhaps a wise koala bear.
The movie also has a sensitive attitude toward one infamous subject - prison rape, which along with everything else, elevates it above simple "prison movie" or "exploitation flick" status.
I say check it out.